


unusual friendships

by Anonymous



Series: things better left unsaid [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Baby Hatake Kakashi, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:20:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27656761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: “Thank you for finding him, Orochimaru-sama. He’s going through a bit of a biting phase.”The Sannin looked at him with faint amusement and moved his hair aside to show tiny bite marks on his neck.“Of that, I am well aware. Perhaps the puppy needs a little more training before setting him on unsuspecting shinobi, hm? He was trying to sneak into Sarutobi-sensei’s office and managed to bite the ANBU on guard without them noticing.”
Relationships: Hatake Sakumo/Orochimaru
Series: things better left unsaid [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2020553
Comments: 10
Kudos: 363
Collections: Anonymous





	unusual friendships

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [blackkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat) and [Kalira's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalira/pseuds/Kalira) beautiful sakuoro fics 
> 
> (pls don't ask me about the timeline, for now everyone's still alive and in konoha and danzou still sucks)

“Hatake, I believe this is yours.”

That was the only warning Sakumo got before his son was gently tossed at him, like a sack of rice that had far too much sass and sharp teeth.

“Puppy! I was wondering where you had disappeared!”

Kakashi bared his teeth at him and sunk them into Sakumo’s arm, tearing through uniform.

“Thank you for finding him, Orochimaru-sama. He’s going through a bit of a biting phase.”

The Sannin looked at him with faint amusement and moved his hair aside to show tiny bite marks on his neck.

“Of that, I am well aware. Perhaps the puppy needs a little more training before setting him on unsuspecting shinobi, hm? He was trying to sneak into Sarutobi-sensei’s office and managed to bite the ANBU on guard without them noticing.”

Sakumo knew praise when he heard it and felt his chest puff up a little. His tiny little Kakashi, already startling ANBU and impressing the Sannin.

“Of course, Orochimaru-sama. Thank you again for the help.”

Orochimaru nodded and raised a hand to brush across Kakashi’s cheek. The boy leaned into it, giving him a brilliant smile.

“Goodbye, little one.”

“Bye, Oro-chan!”

The jounin standby station descended into deafening silence after that exchange. 

“What,” said Yuuhi Shinku, finally breaking the silence, “the actual fuck was that?”

* * *

It seemed that after that incident, Kakashi kept finding reasons to track down the reclusive Sannin. Sakumo thought it was the way he smelled. Whatever soap Orochimaru was using left a mild scent and didn’t irritate Kakashi’s sensitive nose. His puppy had taken to using Sakumo’s neck as a barrier against all the villagers and their overpowering smells. (Perhaps when he was older, Sakumo could buy him a nice mask.)

Nevertheless, every time Sakumo was not on missions, Kakashi would inevitably end up wandering around Hokage Tower, searching for his Oro-chan. Sometimes, he would come back beaming with lemon candy in his hand, fully unaware of the worry he had caused his father. Sometimes he would come back sullen and pouting and only rough-housing in the grass with Sakumo’s wolf-summons would cheer him up.

Sakumo was quite unsure of what to make of it. Orochimaru had a bit of a reputation, but he was kind to his son which outweighed any nasty rumour that he may have heard about him. (Besides, the people Konoha were always so ready to exclude anyone remotely different. Whether it was because of fear or suspicion, whatever fuelled the rumour mills certainly had not spared even the Sandaime’s students.)

It was about a month after his sudden acquaintance with one of the most powerful shinobi in the village, that Kakashi came back to the standby station with a snake. The snake dipped their head in Sakumo’s direction, slithered around Kakashi affectionately and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Orochimaru-sama’s summons?”

“Oro-chan said I get lost and make people,” Kakashi’s brows furrowed as he stumbled over the word, “ _frantic._ So he sent Kurohime to help!”

Dan, who was the only other person in the room with them and had choked on his tea when the two year old showed up with a king cobra, made a wheezing noise from his corner.

“Sakumo your child is terrifying.”

“Dan, you are literally dating Tsunade-sama.”

“Who is a fully grown kunoichi with amazing prowess! She is meant to be terrifying. Kashi-chan is just a baby, his hands are so small.”

Sakumo shot him an unimpressed look and picked his son up.

“I pity your future children. I’m going to go thank Orochimaru-sama and then head home for the day.”

They left Dan, still muttering about small fingers, and made their way to the basement, where the Hokage had given Orochimaru space for his relatively harmless experiments. (Sakumo had no doubt that the man had done terrible things. Unrestrained curiosity could so often lead to dangerous paths. He only hoped that the Sandaime knew his student as well as he thought he did.)

They found him bent over a scroll and making notes, his long hair piled on top of his head in a haphazard bun. Sakumo could see his long neck and earrings clearer and finally understood why he chose to dress in a yukata when he wasn’t on missions. There was a sort of elegance with which Orochimaru carried himself, in his muted yukatas and graceful movements. Looking at him, most of the villagers felt fear at his pale, out worldly appearance. But at that moment, under the odd yellow light of a dingy basement under Hokage tower, all Sakumo felt was breath-taking awe.

“Must you hover outside, Hatake? I’ve been waiting to see if you would declare yourself for a while now.”

Sakumo snapped out of his daze and found out that his son had somehow managed to get out his arms without him noticing, and settled onto Orochimaru’s lap proprietarily.

“Guess I was distracted by the view,” he quipped, thoughtlessly.

The slight widening in Orochimaru’s eyes was the only reaction he was given. As profoundly oblivious Sakumo could be about the matters of the heart (his wife had given him plenty of grief about it, bless her soul), once he knew what he wanted, he would not hesitated. Something satisfied had curled in his belly, looking at his son interact with Orochimaru.

“Would you like to join us for dinner?” Sakumo barrelled on, giving the other man no chance of recovery. “As a thank you for keeping the little monkey entertained.”

“Tou-san, not a monkey!”

“Sorry, puppy.”

“Only as a thank you?”

Sakumo saw the wariness in Orochimaru’s stance, even as he lightly scratched Kakashi’s scalp. Here was someone that was viewed only as a killer in the village, with his strongest attachments to his teammates and a teacher far too busy to meet on most days. Jiraiya was still in Amegakure, Tsunade was busy in the hospital and with Dan. And Orochimaru had resigned himself to a lifetime of working on questionable experiments if it meant avoiding human interaction. Sakumo steeled himself.

“If you’d like. Or we start out like that and see how it goes?”

“I would like that…Sakumo.” 


End file.
